The 3 Key Metrics You Need To Run A Thriving Freelance Business

Discover the three most-important numbers you need to know to run a thriving freelance business. These three simple metrics will allow you to easily set your goals for the year. Plus even more importantly, they allow you to know exactly how to spend your time to reach your goals.

I run my entire multi-six-figure freelance business based on three simple numbers.

And not only do I use these numbers to set my goals for the year. But they also tell me exactly what I need to do day-to-day to reach my goals by year’s end.

So today, I want to walk you through each of these three numbers and show you how you can begin using them inside your own freelance business.

Three Simple Numbers To Run A Successful Freelance Business

The three simple metrics I use to operate my freelance business are…

1. Total Revenue: How much money do you want to make next year?
2. Total Hours-Worked: How much total time do you want to spend working on your business?

Then from there, you can do the following…

3. Figure out your overall effective hourly rate by dividing total revenue by total hours.

And if you want to stop here, you can.

But I also find it helpful to go one step further and figure out how much I need to charge my clients. Since I won’t be spending 100% of my time on client work.

And I need to account for that “lost” time in the rate I charge my clients to hit my goals.

Here’s how to do that…

3.b) Assume 20%-25% of your time goes to non-client work. (Or if you have your actual percentage, you can use that.)

3.c) Get the hourly rate you need to charge clients by taking your total revenue goal and dividing it by 75%-80% of your total hours worked. That way, you can account for the time you spend on non-client work when billing clients and still reach your other goals.

These Three Numbers Give You Everything You Need To Manage Your Freelance Business

For example, let’s say that both your revenue and hours are low…

That means your effective hourly rate would likely still be on track. And you would just need to book more clients at your current rates to get your hours up — which will bring in the missing income you need.

Or let’s say your revenue is low, while your hours are high…

This is the worst-case scenario. Because it means your effective hourly rate would also be low. 

So you would have to focus on trying to raise your rates with your existing clients to get your fees where they need to be. And if they won’t accept higher rates, then you would have to look to replace them with higher-paying clients.

Now if your revenue and hours are both high, you have a decision to make…

First, you need to look at your effective hourly rate and see whether or not it’s on track.

If your effective hourly rate is good, that means the extra hours you’re working are also more profitable. So if you enjoy the extra income — and don’t mind putting in the extra hours — you can decide that it’s worth your time to keep things the way they are.

But if your effective hourly rate is not good — or just okay — then that means you’ve probably got a few low-end clients eating up your time without paying you enough for it.

So you should probably first try to raise your rates with those clients if possible. And if they refuse, end your work for them so that (if you want) you can find new clients who will pay you the rates you need to exceed your goals.

And of course, the dream scenario is for your revenue to be high and your hours to be low…

That would mean your effective hourly rate is also high. And you can sit back and enjoy making all that money for relatively little effort!

And one of the fastest and easiest ways to raise your income while reducing your hours is to make new clients come to you on autopilot…

So Let Me Show You How To Make Freelance Clients Come To You — Like Clockwork — Using A Simple, 30-Second Conversation

All the details are inside my free business blueprint 30-Second Referrals.

With this free PDF, you’ll discover how to use a simple, 30-second conversation to get two referrals from every single client you sign. (I’ll even show you exactly what to say during this conversation with my word-for-word script on page 13.)

That way, you can make clients come to you like clockwork. And you can fill your pipeline with more new business than you can handle.

But there is a small catch…

30-Second Referrals is only available to members The Freelance Like A Pro email list.

So enter your best real email below to join us and claim your free copy of 30-Second Referrals now. (And you’ll get my members-only emails to help you run a more profitable and stress-free freelance business, too.)

Thanks for the freelancing guide and the emails that you've been sending out — the 30-second referral method is so stupidly simple, that it's genius!

Connor Inch, Freelance Copywriter